Attitude Adjustment

2 My First Time

"So?" I hold my breath as he pauses.

He stares at the stainless steel microwave and oven and crosses his arms. Uh-oh.

"What?" I hurry to where he's standing-

A dramatic gasp escapes me.

Those motherfucking streaks.

I thought I got rid of you, assholes.

From this angle, they look a thousand times worse, like I slathered oil on my hands and smeared it all over the stainless steel.

"I swear, I got rid of those..."

He clicks his tongue, then reaches his arm over the stovetop and pops something out from under the range hood.

I've never seen that thing in my life.

It's the mesh filter that traps the cooking steam and grease. And it's absolutely disgusting.

"Was I supposed to clean that?" I grimace as he dumps it in the sink.

"No. You're supposed to stare at it."

He wipes a veiny hand over the kitchen island-which I disinfected and polished-then bends to inspect it from an eye-level.

"Of course," he says and stands up to leave.

What? What did I do?

I pop into a squat to check it out and bite back a whimper at the thousands of particles stuck to the surface.

How in the world did I miss all that? How?

"So not only did you do the bare minimum, but you managed to fuck that up too." He scoffs, pointing at the dusty baseboards.

Shit. The God damn baseboards. I...

I failed. Big time. This is humiliating.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to pay me. Here." I remove the cash from my purse and put it on the island before turning around to leave.

"It's still yours," he says. "Take it-"

"No, I don't want it," I say. "I don't want something that I haven't earned."

"Wait, why is this still here?" He lifts the extra fifty dollars he left with the two hundred dollars. "This was for your lunch. Did you not eat?"

"No." And thank God for that.

He looks at his coffee machine, then at me. "So what'd you have all day? Just coffee?"

"I didn't use your coffee machine, don't worry."

I gather my supplies and put them in my bag. My body is aching. I just want to take a shower and nap in my car, but I have to wait until night time. I don't feel safe sleeping in it when others might see me. It makes me an easy target.

"Why didn't you use it?" Hayden comes closer.

"Because I didn't. Do you want some kind of proof?" What's his deal?

"You didn't eat or drink all day?"

"It's not the first time, don't worry."

"That's not healthy."

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

He continues to nag. "Why would you do that? No wonder you look like that."

I give him a dry look under my lashes.

"You look sick, like you're going to pass out!"

"Aw, do I? Please sweep me off my feet before I faint." I put the back of my hand against my forehead in a sarcastic manner. "Why do you care? So what? I forget to eat or drink water when I'm really focusing on something. It's not on purpose. It's just not a top priority."